Over the past year, we've explored the issue of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by automobiles, the efforts made by the various car manufacturers to reduce these emissions as well as the fuel consumption of their products, the various laws passed in the United States and Canada to try to slow global warming and the rise of fuel prices in North America. We've seen manufacturers commit and put forward electric vehicles for 2010 and 2011, namely General Motors with the Chevrolet Volt, Toyota, Nissan, Volvo, BMW's MINI and, just recently, Chrysler. It seems that the trend has been firmly set.
We talked about the Chevrolet Volt this year. I would've liked to tell you about Toyota's and Nissan's electric vehicle projects, but information is being released very sparingly. However, another American manufacturer has committed itself this week with the announcement that it will produce, through its ENVI division created less than a year ago, three electric vehicles in as many classes: the Dodge EV, a completely electric sports car, the Jeep EV, an extended-range electric Wrangler, and the Chrysler EV, an extended-range electric Town & Country minivan. What's more, the American manufacturer even specified that a hundred of these vehicles will be tested on the roads in the fleets of government agencies and certain public utilities.
Two different technologies for Chrysler
Chrysler's ENVI division is developing two types of electric technologies for the automotive industry: electric vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles. The former feature a purely electric-drive technology, while the latter feature electric-drive technology coupled with a conventional system that powers a generator and fuels the batteries, a little like the Chevrolet Volt.
 |
| 2011 Chevrolet Volt |
We talked about the Chevrolet Volt this year. I would've liked to tell you about Toyota's and Nissan's electric vehicle projects, but information is being released very sparingly. However, another American manufacturer has committed itself this week with the announcement that it will produce, through its ENVI division created less than a year ago, three electric vehicles in as many classes: the Dodge EV, a completely electric sports car, the Jeep EV, an extended-range electric Wrangler, and the Chrysler EV, an extended-range electric Town & Country minivan. What's more, the American manufacturer even specified that a hundred of these vehicles will be tested on the roads in the fleets of government agencies and certain public utilities.
Two different technologies for Chrysler
Chrysler's ENVI division is developing two types of electric technologies for the automotive industry: electric vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles. The former feature a purely electric-drive technology, while the latter feature electric-drive technology coupled with a conventional system that powers a generator and fuels the batteries, a little like the Chevrolet Volt.
 |
| Chrysler EV (grey), Jeep EV (white) and Dodge EV (yellow). |